International Armenian Literary Alliance

Applications Open: IALA’s 2026 Mentorship Program - International Armenian Literary Alliance IALA is now accepting applications for its sixth annual Mentorship Program, which will run from July 1 through August 31, 2026.

We love seeing our past mentees flourish! 🙌

Applications for our 2026 Mentorship Program are open until March 31st. Take a page out of Shushanik's book, learn more, and apply: armenianliterary.org/mp26/

Equal parts heart-rending and sharp, IALA 2024 mentee Shushanik Karapetyan's new essay, "Flowers for the Dead," is one you won't want to miss! The essay was published in @jmwwjournal.bsky.social. 💐 ✍

Read it here: bit.ly/4rplR3A

IALA’s NYC Chapter will be hosting a literary evening celebrating IALA advisory board member Lory Bedikian’s Anahid Literary Prize at Brooklyn’s @wordbookstores.bsky.social! 📚✨

Join us on March 28, 2026, at 7:00 PM at 126 Franklin Street, Brooklyn, NY.

RSVP: bit.ly/40l75zY

⏰ Reminder: Join us tomorrow!

Don’t miss Standing on the Moon: The Lyrical Imagination Vol. 2 featuring Grammy-nominated musician and composer Sebu Simonian in dialogue with writer Alan Semerdjian.

Register here: bit.ly/4l6IurY

2026 Perugia Press Prize Results - Perugia Press WINNER: Everything Has Been Moved, Even the Dead by Jen Siraganian In her debut collection, Everything Has Been Moved, Even […]

Congratulations to IALA 2024 mentor @jsiraganian.bsky.social for winning the 2026 Perugia Press Prize (@perugiapress.bsky.social) for her debut collection, Everything Has Been Moved, Even the Dead! ✨ 👏

Learn more here: bit.ly/47snMgw

IALA is turning 5! 🎉 We're celebrating with an online fundraiser and a special event in Los Angeles.

Join us March 22, 1–4 PM in Glendale for readings by Armenian writers, a live set by DJ Yerv, and coffee & pastries from Brothers Coffee and The Moody Vegan.

Register/donate: givebutter.com/IALA5

Don't forget to join us Sunday, March 8th, for Standing on the Moon: The Lyrical Imagination Vol. 2! 🎶

The event will feature Grammy-nominated musician & composer Sebu Simonian in dialogue with @alansemerdjian.bsky.social ✨

Register here: bit.ly/4l6IurY

Applications Open: IALA’s 2026 Mentorship Program - International Armenian Literary Alliance IALA is now accepting applications for its sixth annual Mentorship Program, which will run from July 1 through August 31, 2026.

Applications for our 2026 Mentorship Program are now open! Learn more about it and apply by March 31: armenianliterary.org/mp26/

Meet Tenny Minassian — vegan lifestyle coach, writer, and valued member of IALA's LA Chapter organizing team. Since her time as a 2022 IALA mentee, Tenny has gone on to self-publish her children’s book, Lucy Goes to The Gentle Barn.

Find her book: bit.ly/4rfkUdX

🗓️ Save the date: April 11, 2026, for our Literary Lights 2026 event featuring the author – announcement to follow! Support our work by purchasing the book at our Bookshop storefront.

Join us in congratulating Rebecca Rose Mooradian on the publication of her highly anticipated debut picture book, Rose by the Sea! ✨ 🌊

Learn more: bit.ly/4r4bCkX

Support IALA by purchasing Waterline at our Bookshop.org storefront here: bit.ly/473V0T

AGBU Young Professionals is hosting a special discussion of Aram Mrjoian's debut novel, Waterline, for their Armenian Book Club! 🇦🇲 📚

The event, cosponsored by IALA, will take place on March 29th from 3:00–5:30 PM.

Register here: bit.ly/4u3L06x

Writers & translators, applications for our 2026 Mentorship Program are now open! 🙌

Our 6th annual program runs July 1 – August 31, 2026, offering mentorships for fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry & literary translation.

✍️ Apply by March 31, 2026: armenianliterary.org/mp26

We're pleased to invite you to Standing on the Moon: The Lyrical Imagination ft. Grammy-nominated musician Sebu in conversation w/ Alan Semerdjian! 🎶

📅 Date: March 8, 2026, 10 AM Pacific | 1 PM Eastern | 9 PM Armenia Time
🔗 Learn more & register: bit.ly/SotM2

#writing #music #sebu #capitalcities

We’re pleased to announce the Sarkisian Workshop Series: Can Storytelling Save Us? ✍️

📚 Learn more about the six writing workshops, brought to you by IALA, @miznaarabart.bsky.social, @aaww-nyc.bsky.social & the Sarkisian Foundation for the Arts and Engineering: bit.ly/SWS26

It’s Armenian Book Giving Day! 📚🙌

Explore IALA’s Bookshop storefront! Armenian, e-book, or otherwise, 10% of each purchase you make goes directly to IALA as long as you select us as the bookstore you'd like to support.

📖 Get your books here: bookshop.org/shop/IALA

Friday, February 27th at 7:30pm: Literature During Genocide Friday, February 27th, 7:30pm - 9pm   LITERATURE DURING GENOCIDE An Inaugural Reading & Conversation at Watermelon Books LA with Award-Winning Novelists Randa Jarrar & Nancy Kricorian Watermel...

Join IALA advisory board member @nancykric.bsky.social
and novelist Randa Jarrar on February 27, at the launch of Watermelon Books in Los Angeles, a branch of the iconic Palestinian-led bookstore in Jordan! 🍉🇦🇲

RSVP here: bit.ly/4rpSQW9

Fearcatcher is featured in Literary Lights 2026! 📚 ✨ Keep an eye on our website and socials for the announcement.

In Naira Kuzmich’s posthumous debut novel, Fearcatcher, a baby girl is found abandoned in the woods of a small village in Soviet Armenia, with one hand forced out of her swaddle.

Learn more: bit.ly/4aLTdod

Poetic courage: Melineh Yemenidjian writes herself whole Melineh and I are lifelong friends, bound early on by a shared and abiding love for literature. Some of my most vivid memories of her as a child are of the intensity with which she recounted the stori...

"My love of poetry is a cosmic desire."

IALA 2024 mentee Melineh Yemenidjian was recently featured in The Armenian Weekly discussing her new collection, The Split Pomegranate. ✍ 📕

Check it out: bit.ly/3OlZ7Ug

Literary Lights 2026 Launch: Featuring Peter Balakian On February 8, 2026, we launched Literary Lights 2026, featuring Peter Balakian, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of New York Trilogy, in conversation with writer, critic, editor and translator, Diana Arterian. In an inventive, elliptical language, New York Trilogy explores one man’s journey from the late 1960s to the twenty-first century, as he moves through a series of experiences centered in New York City and the surrounding New Jersey Palisades. Organized by IALA, NAASR and the Zohrab Information Center for the fourth year in a row, Literary Lights 2026 is an annual reading series showcasing new works of literature by Armenian authors. Each event—held online or in-person—will feature a writer reading from their work, followed by a discussion with an interviewer and audience members. Keep an eye on our website and socials for the exact dates of each event. Read along with the series by purchasing titles at IALA's Bookshop storefront: https://bookshop.org/shop/IALA

Missed our first Literary Lights 2026 event with Pulitzer Prize winner Peter Balakian? That's okay! You can watch a full recording of the event on our YouTube channel.

🎬 Watch here: bit.ly/4tvc1iK

Flicker - 101 Words Beads of sweat swam across Emilio’s face, standing over the hot stove in the cramped kitchen at Trama’s Trattoria. The […]

"For a moment, he thought it meant something, like home. But she left him empty like everything else here."

Step into a moment in time by reading IALA member Arman Kaymakcian's microfiction, "Flicker," published on 101 Words! ✍

Check it out: 101words.org/flicker/

Last chance! 🚨

Join us tomorrow for Literary Lights 2026 featuring Pulitzer-Prize winner Peter Balakian! Writer, editor, and critic Diana Arterian will lead the discussion in this exciting virtual event.

Don't miss out! Register here: bit.ly/3NFhoMc

Congratulations to IALA member Jen Siraganian on being featured in the 2025 Best New Poets anthology with her poem, “Thinking about My Father’s Erector Set from 1948." 👏 ✨

Check out all the other finalists and learn more about the anthology here: bestnewpoets.org/finalists.php

⏰ Reminder! ⏰

Don’t miss our Literary Lights 2026 launch featuring Pulitzer Prize–winning author Peter Balakian in conversation with Diana Arterian.

Register and tune in: bit.ly/3NFhoMc

Check out IALA member Mariam Vahradyan's essay, "Lost Objects" in the Razor Magazine, a profound piece that finds the silver lining in losing what is most precious to us.

Read it here: bit.ly/3NRwNZQ

Don't forget to join us this Sunday for our first Literary Lights event of the year!

Pulitzer Prize–winning author and IALA advisory board member Peter Balakian will discuss his new book New York Trilogy with writer, critic, editor, and translator Diana Arterian.

Register: bit.ly/3NFhoMc

National Book Foundation and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Announce the 2026 Science + Literature Selected Titles The National Book Foundation (NBF) and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation today announced selected titles for the fifth year of the Science + Literature program, which identifies three books annually…

Congratulations to IALA member and our 2025 Literary Light, Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian, on having her novel, Forest Euphoria, selected for the @nationalbook.bsky.social's Science + Literature program!

Learn more: bit.ly/49N3b6Y

Book Review: Mule Cart, An Armenian Refugee Family’s Escape Mule Cart, An Armenian Refugee Family’s Escape By Arpie Cherchian Cort and David Louis Cort Illustrated by Nicole Nielsen Published by Fig Mint Press, 2025 Audience: Ages 6-11, Grades 1-6 Available in...

Check out this insightful review about IALA member Arpie Cherchian Cort and David Cort's new children's book, Mule Cart, An Armenian Refugee Family’s Escape, published in Armenian Weekly! 📚 ✍

Read it here: bit.ly/4qJUce8